NEW DELHI: A
belligerent government and an unrelenting Opposition in the Rajya Sabha ensured
that the first day of the last week of Monsoon Session of Parliament was a
washout.

Leader of Opposition
Ghulam Nabi Azad objected to the language used by ministers over the weekend
against Congress leaders – MoS Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had
called Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi ‘Gunga Gudda’. Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley was upset about not being allowed to speak by unruly Congress
members sloganeering in the well; the situation was aggravated when Congress
MPs agreed to stop shouting in order to allow JD (U)’s KC Tyagi to speak.
Jaitley immediately stood up to oppose the “selective blocking”.

“We cannot allow the
House to be conducted in such a way that the government is not allowed to
speak. Such selected blocking cannot go on,” Jaitley said. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien
supported him. “This House is the property of everyone, selective blocking is
not acceptable.”

Azad clarified that
contrary to media reports, there has been no effort by the government to hold a
meeting with the Congress to break the present deadlock. “There was one phone
call from the minister for parliamentary affairs about the suspension of
members in the Lok Sabha, nothing more,” he said.

Azad also raised the
issue of the Central government having kept the Nagaland chief minister in the
dark about the Naga peace accord and its ministers targeting Congress leaders.
Jaitley intervened and said that the government had made many attempts to
resolve the impasse. “Congress CMs in the Northeast had welcomed the accord on
Twitter but had to retract under pressure from the leadership,” he said.